Home Blogs Existentialism, a modern school of thought

Existentialism, a modern school of thought

0
Existentialism, a modern school of thought
Stock Photo

According to this doctrine, humans are free to take any decision in search of their meaning of life with rational acts in this irrational universe.

GM Chhachhar

Existentialism is a modern school of thought, which emphasizes about the “Existence of human beings,” their freedom, freedom to choose and choice of anything according to the individuals’ desire. According to this doctrine, humans are free to take any decision in search of their” meaning of life” with rational acts in this irrational universe.

One thing is mandatory to understand that this philosophy focuses only the existence of human beings, and nothing else. In this modern philosophy, which is very controversial and in contrast of all religions, it is clearly argued that there is no any transcendent force to control the universe. This directly means, that there is no presence of God in this universe, and in this universe the counter of that nothingness is to search the meaning of life individually.

There is another philosophy humanism, and most of people are unable to understand the difference between the both philosophies but there is huge difference in both school of thoughts. Humanism is also a philosophical view, which focuses on individuals dignity, values, potentials and their free will to figure out what is wrong and what is right for them. On other hand Existentialism believes that individuals are entirely free to take their responsibility for themselves, although that responsibility can be the angst, profound and dreadful. This also emphasizes to focus on the fundamental decisions, which can rise in an essential absurd conditions by the sufferings or sure death with the practice of freedom and choice to oppose the determinism, so the difference is very clear in both.

Existentialism was against the ancient school of thoughts like rationalism, empiricism, positivism, because these all philosophies were focusing on the ultimate universal meaning of metaphysical world as in the search of observed world, despite nihilism was close to this philosophy.

In the evolution of this philosophy these kinds of themes were founded in the ancient Christian and Buddhism, like in the writings of “Augustine “, and “Thomas Aquinas “.

In 17th century there was “Pascal” who suggested that without God the Life is meaningless, boring and miserable. This statement shows that he was believer of the existence of God. His contemporary John Locke worked on the individual’s independence of the self-determinism in the pursuit of “liberalism” and “Individualism” ignoring the purpose of Existentialism.

Existentialism
Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre

In the modern Existentialism, there were some philosophers, those were not accepting any theory and view of the world, and they had their own philosophy to introduce it among the people of the world. This started in 19th century from the most influential philosophers of the time “Soren Kierkegaard” and Fredrick Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Karl jaspers, 1883 – 1969) and Edmund Husserl, and writers like the Russian Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 – 1881) and the Czech Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924). It can be argued that Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer also the worked on the development of Existentialism, but the proper term of this philosophy started from the 1940s and 1950s by the two prominent French existentialist “Jean Paul Sartre”, “Albert Camus”, Simone de Beauvoir. Those scholarly works are based on fictional and popularized existential themes like absurdity, alienation, boredom, freedom commitment and contemporary of Blaise Pascal, John Locke worked on the individuals independent and “self-determinism”.

First belief of “Rene Descartes” that man is thrown into in material world, which cannot be “thought away” and therefore the existence means the meaning of the world and consciousness that is pure reality. He asserted that Existence is the essence, which is meaning of life, same as the Greek philosopher asserted. Sartre said: “At first [Man] is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be.” Kierkegaard talked on humans use to counter the anxiety and fear of the individual’s being in this world. Sartre said being a rational is bad faith of an individual attempt to impose the self by irrational phenomena. Kierkegaard focused that the individuals must choose a choice without any universal aid. Nietzsche contented that individuals must own their moral situation. According to Camus, when an individual’s longing for order collides with the real world’s lack of order, the result is absurdity, Human beings are subject in the absurd and ambiguous universe, which meaning is not provided by natural order, but can be created by human’s actions and interpretations.

Existentialists are atheist, theological or theist and agnostic .Some existentialists like Nietzsche claimed that “God is Dead” and concept of God is obsolete. Others, like Kierkegaard were religious, if they did not find any universal aid to prove it, they stressed on individuals freedom and choice to believe of not to believe to choose.

_______________

GM Chhachhar, hailing from village Wada Chhachhar, Taluka Majnhand, district Jamshoro is studying BS English at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Nawabshah.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here